The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-11
CREDIT FONCIER.
The SINAL0A BUBBLE PRICKED,
Returned coionist Tells OF Diet. Disease and
Death In the Mexican soeiaiis,Ie coIon,.

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. Ma

correspondence Of the IiuidtLd NctcS
ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. MAY o.
During the residence of your cores
pondent at Jacksonville. a year since. he
was the recipient of a number Of copies
of a small publication entitled Credit
Fancier of Sinaloa," from Hammonton.
\. j. IL is edited by Robert and Marie
j. Rowland, and has for its specific OBJ
lect the dissemination of Socialistic doc
trine, and TO advertise a Socialistic col
onization scheme under the patronage
or leadership of Albert h. Owen. the
well known New York Socialist.
The prime features of the scheme, as
your correspondent has gathered them
from the little publication itself and
from recent expose articles. are about as
follows: Albert X. Owen obtained an
agreement with the Mexican government
in which il is stipulated that. in consid-
Grafton of the construction of a certain
short railroad and the settlement of five
hundred families on a tract of land bor-
dering the Fuesta River. on the western
slope of Mexico. he should receive "A large
grant of land, which has been given the
euphonious appellation of "Sinaloa. "
Upon this tract of land Owen and his
aides, Robert and Marie j. Rowland,
conceived the idea of establishing the
Credit Foncier Socialistic colony. similar
to the Credit Foncier in France. The
colonists were To own everything in
common; public improvements and en-
terprises were To he conducted on the
cooperative plan. To become interested
in the colony one wonld have To become
a stakeholder. the shares being valued
at $40. The business and government
of the colony was To be administered by
a board of directors, each director rep
resenting the vote or voice of certain
number of shares.
SEDUCTIVE PROSPECTS.
To the casual reader of the Howland
publication, this new system of govern
ment would appear the very quintes-
cence of perfection, and so industriously
has this diminutiye publication been err
culated that many thousands of dollars
worth of the stock have been taken by
simple-minded people from Maine to
California and from the Lakes Ia the
Gulf, and many have sold ont their pos
sessions and journeyed to this Mecca of
contentment and happiness.
The readers of THE PALATKa NEWS
will he surprised Ia learn that among
the long list of stockholders to this
scheme (Which now turns up as "A gigan-
tic fraud and swindlel appear the names
jacksonville, ST. Augustine. Palatka,
Sanford, Key West and the other larger
towns of the State as their places of resi-
dence. Yes, citizens of Florida have
contributed thousands of dollars of their
hard earnings to become stockholders in
the Credit Foncier Colony, and are abid-
ing the time when their finances will
permit their emigration and becoming
citizens of the State of Sinaloa, Mexico.
OF course, the people who have pressed
their socialistic idol To their bosom are
from the ranks of the discontented me
chanics and workingmen throughout the
country; men whose hard living makes
them easy dupes to any scheme which
promises an amelioration of their con-
dition. 1t is to warn these people your
correspondent pens this article.
THE SCHEME EXPOSED.
lengthy expose of the immense
swindle has recently been published ia
the Portland, Ne, Press. IL is made by
Mr.. Winslow l.. Rowe. one of "A party of
seventeen emigrants from Portland to
Sinaloa, and the only one of the party
who has succeeded i'm getting back
home, which he was enabled to do by his
relatives and friends in Maine sending
him the money To pay his expenses. The
entire expose would prove profitable
reading to those Floridians who have
made investments in the stock and con-
template emigrating at some future
time, but your correspondent is too
modest to ask THE PALATKA NEWS 10
publish 80 lengthy an article, however,
the publication of the following extracts
from il will serve good turn 10 som"
Of our deluded countrymen;
FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
IL the belief of the colonists ia the
Utopian scheme to which they had lent
themselves had Ibeen steadfast before
reaching Guaymas, IL took only "A short
time after landing at Topolobamho TO
open the eyes Of most of them and show
how great was the fraud of which they
were the victims. Instead of the lovely
groves of oranges trees standing in the
midst of a fertile country. they saw
nothing but stretches of sand and rock,
covered with cactus plants. BY the
shore of the hay "A collection of tents af-
forded shelter to the colonists already on
the ground. Farther away was "A small
hut, built Of cane mating. whose use
the new comers soon learned. Upon a
hill near the tents was the only wooden
building i'm the place. This was Alber-
ton Hall, build for the exclusive use Of
Owen. why" said Mr.. Rowe. Ito
show how little O~ en- cared for the col
onists, think of that building. IL would
he worth here about twenty dollars
and il had cost there $1,000. which came
out If the people who had invested in
the Credit Foncier.'
The passengers from the bark were
disappointed in the place, but there was
a greater surprise for them i'm the people
whom they found there. The colonists
consisted Of two distinct classes. One
was composed Of such people as the party
of which the colonists from Maine formed
a part. They had read the circulars de
scriptive Of the new home ON the Gulf
of California. had invested In the stock of
the Credit Foncier and come Ia the sst-
tlement with honest intentions and be-
lief in the promises which had been